Darren Scott began his career by studying a Design Practice degree at Salford University. He had an interest in typography and did a piece of work for Fuse font foundry. He then created the typeface Berliner, and made it into a stencil so that it could be spray painted onto the Berlin Wall. This typeface looked almost like it was a code. He then created a poster for Fuse, which was his first design job. When he left university, he set up Darren Scott Typographics, a type foundry. At this time he created such fonts as Circuit, Sodium, Bad Angel and Rub-On. His influences at this time were David Carson and Eric Speakerman.
Darren eventually began working for McCann Erickson, the biggest ad agency in the world, and he began to create corporate design for big international brands. He helped to create the famous All:Sports logo and the photographic styling. He also helped to create the Christie’s “Embrace” logo, his last brief for McCann Erickson.
“Always have some ideas up your sleeve as often you get very rushed briefs – create a bank of ideas”. This helps you to work faster but if you do have things in you back pockets that you want to use, they have to be appropriate for the brief.
The first brief at Truth design studio was for The Authentic Food Company. The final design reflected world food and travel, and as it was a global brand, he created pictograms that could easily represent the company.
Darren has also created a lot of work for Durex over the past seven years. He helped to create a “brand stretch”, which is widening the products within a company. For example, with Durex, it was condoms, to sexual enhancement. He created posters and packaging that contained an element of function. This was Darren’s first foray into packaging design.
The most challenging thing is when you are taken out of you comfort zone, but this gives you a reason to create fresh and innovative ideas. He thinks it’s good not to have a particular style, as if you learn all your crafts (i.e. type, illustration, photography), it gives you more room to experiment and the ability to learn to understand it.
Mechanic Gothic is one of Darren’s most popular typefaces. Lots of magazines have used it. Bell Gothic inspired it; you need a hook that makes a typeface different. For example, in one typeface the letter G could be very decorated which would make it stand out.
Truth design studio is now two and a half years old. Jane, the account director at McCann Erickson, runs the business, whereas Darren is the designer.
“Don’t be afraid to show your working out and making mistakes. It is always quality over quantity. Create stuff that is appropriate. Rationalise, justify your work, make your work more appealing to a client.”
“Business cards speak for you when you are not there”.
Through Truth, Darren redesigned the brand “Fat Hog”, which sells painting supplies. At this brand could possibly expand in the future, Darren created a very simple logo that could be used on clothing, as well as packaging. He created something that was very striking, as he wanted it to stand out amongst the other brands out there.
Versus Cancer is another project that Truth has worked on. Versus Cancer, originally known as Manchester versus Cancer, is a charity that organises music concerts to earn money in aid of cancer. Darren “future-proofed” this company by changing the original name of the charity to Versus Cancer. By removing the city name, Darren enabled the charity to become a global charity, as opposed to one based in Manchester alone.
A project that is currently underway is a Reebok advertising campaign for the Amir Khan boxing range. What has been created so far is a very bold logo that will be used on all the advertising, and possibly the product itself.
“Have passion, enthusiasm and confidence about you work.”
I went to this lecture as I have an interest in type but I found it fascinating, as I have never had the opportunity to meet someone prominent in the advertising industry. It was interesting to see how his passion for typography has bled into commercial work, to the point where he might create a full typeface for a campaign. I also felt that Darren was very wise in the advice that he was giving, and though he fell into the industry quite quickly, he knows what it’s like to struggle to find yourself after leaving university. One important piece of advice he gave was that when you meet someone in the industry; always ask for six more names that could be helpful. If those six names each gave six more names, you could quite easily get yourself known to the people who matter in design, and this would hopefully result in work. I really enjoyed this lecture, as Darren not only spoke about design work, but about how him and his work fit into the industry, and gave advice and how to promote yourself.
See work at: www.truth-design.co.uk
Darren eventually began working for McCann Erickson, the biggest ad agency in the world, and he began to create corporate design for big international brands. He helped to create the famous All:Sports logo and the photographic styling. He also helped to create the Christie’s “Embrace” logo, his last brief for McCann Erickson.
“Always have some ideas up your sleeve as often you get very rushed briefs – create a bank of ideas”. This helps you to work faster but if you do have things in you back pockets that you want to use, they have to be appropriate for the brief.
The first brief at Truth design studio was for The Authentic Food Company. The final design reflected world food and travel, and as it was a global brand, he created pictograms that could easily represent the company.
Darren has also created a lot of work for Durex over the past seven years. He helped to create a “brand stretch”, which is widening the products within a company. For example, with Durex, it was condoms, to sexual enhancement. He created posters and packaging that contained an element of function. This was Darren’s first foray into packaging design.
The most challenging thing is when you are taken out of you comfort zone, but this gives you a reason to create fresh and innovative ideas. He thinks it’s good not to have a particular style, as if you learn all your crafts (i.e. type, illustration, photography), it gives you more room to experiment and the ability to learn to understand it.
Mechanic Gothic is one of Darren’s most popular typefaces. Lots of magazines have used it. Bell Gothic inspired it; you need a hook that makes a typeface different. For example, in one typeface the letter G could be very decorated which would make it stand out.
Truth design studio is now two and a half years old. Jane, the account director at McCann Erickson, runs the business, whereas Darren is the designer.
“Don’t be afraid to show your working out and making mistakes. It is always quality over quantity. Create stuff that is appropriate. Rationalise, justify your work, make your work more appealing to a client.”
“Business cards speak for you when you are not there”.
Through Truth, Darren redesigned the brand “Fat Hog”, which sells painting supplies. At this brand could possibly expand in the future, Darren created a very simple logo that could be used on clothing, as well as packaging. He created something that was very striking, as he wanted it to stand out amongst the other brands out there.
Versus Cancer is another project that Truth has worked on. Versus Cancer, originally known as Manchester versus Cancer, is a charity that organises music concerts to earn money in aid of cancer. Darren “future-proofed” this company by changing the original name of the charity to Versus Cancer. By removing the city name, Darren enabled the charity to become a global charity, as opposed to one based in Manchester alone.
A project that is currently underway is a Reebok advertising campaign for the Amir Khan boxing range. What has been created so far is a very bold logo that will be used on all the advertising, and possibly the product itself.
“Have passion, enthusiasm and confidence about you work.”
I went to this lecture as I have an interest in type but I found it fascinating, as I have never had the opportunity to meet someone prominent in the advertising industry. It was interesting to see how his passion for typography has bled into commercial work, to the point where he might create a full typeface for a campaign. I also felt that Darren was very wise in the advice that he was giving, and though he fell into the industry quite quickly, he knows what it’s like to struggle to find yourself after leaving university. One important piece of advice he gave was that when you meet someone in the industry; always ask for six more names that could be helpful. If those six names each gave six more names, you could quite easily get yourself known to the people who matter in design, and this would hopefully result in work. I really enjoyed this lecture, as Darren not only spoke about design work, but about how him and his work fit into the industry, and gave advice and how to promote yourself.
See work at: www.truth-design.co.uk
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